“Not when nothing is holding me up, no.”
He grinned. “I’ve got you.”
She started to laugh. “Yeah, but who’s got you, Superman?”
“Okay, okay. Here goes.”
He thought about going down. They started falling.
Fast.
Beth said something that was stolen away by the wind but he was pretty sure it was a curse. He smiled, thought about going slower, and they began floating softly.
“I can fly! Damn. I can do so much with this.”
“Start with putting me down.”
“Killjoy. For now. But we’re going to try this again.”
“Oh, goody.”
He would have smiled again but his limbs started to feel heavy. Exhaustion was creeping in. A sure warning sign he was almost out of juice. She was right. They needed to land, now. There was a clear space to land on the bow of the ship. At a hundred feet up, he could see F-Team. At twenty feet, he picked out individual members, including Drake and Lansing.
They landed with a quiet thump. Perfect. He let go of the TK and his limbs turned to jelly. Yep, definitely out of juice. He lost his grip on Beth and he went down to one knee.
Drake scooped Beth into his arms.
“Firefly?”
Weird. Daz’s voice sounded strange, almost shaky.
“Firefly? You okay?”
“I’m okay but out of juice.”
“Fuck, no wonder after that,” Daz said. “I thought you’d been burned up in it.”
In a way, he had. He took a deep breath, trying to draw breath to stand. “We good, Daz?”
“Nuke’s secure but the ship isn’t.”
Daz’s voice sounded normal again. He turned to F-Team, some of whom were staring, their mouths open in shock.
“Hey!” Daz ordered. “Get your eyeballs back in their sockets, surround them and get them out of the open.”
Lansing offered Alec a hand. He hesitated a second, then took it. When Alec was on his feet, Lansing leaned over and whispered in his ear. “You see what you can be, Alec? And you’d give that up for a girl?”
“Fuck you. Beth is the reason I could do it.”
Gunshots thudded into the deck near their feet.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lansing grabbed Alec and pulled him toward cover. Alec went along, closed his eyes and tried to reach for the bullets with TK.
Nothing. Fuck.
Daz shouted again but his voice was fainter. Lansing had splintered them off from the main group with Beth.
“I need to get to Beth,” Alec said.
Lansing pushed Alec so hard that his head smashed into the metal wall of a container.
“Shit! That’s enough, Lansing.” The old bastard couldn’t wait to get his knocks in, could he?
The gunshots stopped. Alec raised his head and blinked, trying to focus. He flung his arms out. Solid metal on one side. At first, his other hand found nothing but open space but then his knuckles hit the railing. They were on the side of the ship’s deck. Not the most secure place but better than in the open space of the bow.
“We need to get inside the container I ripped open.” Alec struggled to his feet. He wiped sweat away from his face from the back of his hand. “Coverage on three sides. Safer there.”
“Safer for you. Not for me, not with Drake there.” Lansing grabbed the straps of Alec’s body armor and used the leverage to slam him against the container again. “And why waste this quiet moment between us?”
Alec’s vision went fuzzy again. He tried to lift his arm to hit back but lacked the energy. Fuck. Stopping the explosion and flying had taken everything he had.
“Uh, what moment?”
“It’s past time.” Lansing’s face came into clear focus. His pupils were wide, his stare unblinking.
And I thought he was crazy before.
Alec took a deep breath, remembering how easily the old man had snapped someone’s neck only minutes ago. I need to buy time.
“People are shooting at us and you want to have a chat?”
“Yes.” Lansing jabbed his forearm into Alec’s throat.
Alec choked and clawed Lansing’s body armor with his hands but it had no effect. He fought for breath, trying to stay calm. His legs felt like lead. His vision blurred. Lansing spun them and pushed him backward, halfway over the rail. Fuck, he’d just flown into the air, controlled an explosion and saved Manhattan from a nuke. Now he couldn’t deal with one crazy old man?
“Can’t have a talk if I’m dead,” Alec whispered, using all his breath. All he needed was a few minutes, then his energy would come back.
“That’s the idea.”
Lansing wanted to kill him. No surprise. But why hadn’t he shot him or tossed him overboard already?
“You are giving up what you are for a girl. You belong with me.”
Lansing’s hold relaxed. Fresh air flowed into Alec’s lungs but the spots before his eyes didn’t go away.
“Answer me,” Lansing said.
“Was there a question?”
“Why would you give this up for the girl?”
“Why do I have to choose?”
“Because she’s afraid of what she is. She always will be.”
Alec thought of being with Beth, in the fire, making love thousands of feet in the air. That was what he was, what they were.
“She’s not afraid of her power. She only wants to use it the right way.”
“The right way is to protect yourself and take control.”
“You can protect yourself without becoming, uh, consumed by it.” He wanted to call Lansing “crazy” but that didn’t seem like a good idea just now.
Lansing’s forearm bit into his throat again, cutting off air. “Power is control. There is nothing else.”
The spots in front of Alec’s eyes grew bigger and brighter. Nothing else but power? So I can look forward to becoming a crazed lunatic, pushing his foster son over a railing in the middle of a gunfight?
Alec opened his mouth but he had no breath to talk. Lansing eased the pressure once more.
“If there was nothing but power, you would have killed me already.”
“Killing you is wasteful. I wanted to give you another chance.”
“You keep telling yourself that. Truth is, you don’t want to kill me.”
“Of course, I don’t want to kill you. It’s a regrettable necessity.”
“That’s not why you haven’t shot me.”
Lansing bashed his elbow into the side of Alec’s face. Pain blossomed and spread over his cheek. Alec spat at Lansing. The old man jerked back and Alec bull-rushed him into the metal wall of the container. Lansing hit with a thud that echoed around them.
Alec grabbed at the rifle barrel. Lansing smashed the rifle butt into Alec’s face, knocking him down to his knees. Alec gripped the rail for balance, gritting his teeth. Stupid fight move. Daz would not approve. What good was all his training if he didn’t have the energy to use it? And Lansing was an old guy. Where the hell had he gotten that kind of strength?
Lansing aimed the rifle at Alec. Point blank range. A red dot appeared in the middle of his chest. The body armor wouldn’t hold up to a shot that close.
“You made your choice, Alec. I’m sorry. I really am.”
“I believe you.” Alec reached out and closed his hand around the rifle barrel. “But I still don’t think you can kill me.”
“It’s a waste, true. But rabid dogs have to be put down.”
“You raised me like your son. Remember the chess games, teaching me to play piano, all the time you spent showing me proper manners, and those hours in the lab teaching me to control the fire? You put your life at risk.” Alec smiled. “You give a damn about me, old man. Admit it.”
Lansing’s face lost all expression. “That doesn’t matter. I have to pull out the weed and start over.”
“The weed’s too strong now. Besides, Beth’s not the problem. You think it’s a coincidence that I�
��m more powerful with her around?”
Lansing took a deep breath, understanding. Finally. “She’s a catalyst.”
Keep him talking. Lansing couldn’t kill him because he cared, despite himself. Alec almost felt sorry for the old bastard.
“We increase each other’s abilities.”
“You’d never have lived long enough to be with her if not for me.” Lansing jabbed the barrel into Alec’s body armor.
“That’s true.” Alec fought the impulse to take a step back. Instead, he tightened his grip on the rifle barrel. With the TK so weak, the closer he was to the bullet, the better. He’d only get one shot. Shot. Hah. Stupid pun.
“You could have raised me like Demeter, brainwashed beyond all reason, a fanatic who believes in a cause. You could have brought me up without any morals at all. Instead, you raised me like a son and found people like F-Team to fight with me.”
“They were the best.” Lansing took a step back. “You needed to learn to command men.”
“You could have picked any kind of men. You picked Daz—an honorable, decorated Navy Seal commander—to lead them, to be my military mentor. You made it our job to protect people. What does that say about you, Lansing?”
Lansing blinked. “It says I’m a fool. I should have kept better control of you.”
“It says you have morals, even if you’ve hidden them behind bullshit rationalizations,” Alec said. “You won’t kill me because you damn well don’t want to kill me.”
“You’re naïve, boy. My fault. I won’t make the same mistake when I do it next time.”
Alec tensed. Next time? Did Lansing have a kid in mind? “There won’t be a next time.”
“No, not for you.”
Alec tried to summon the TK. All he got was blurry vision. He’d no idea if he could stop a bullet. Daz, where the hell are you?
Lansing narrowed his eyes and his face became a frozen mask.
He was going to pull the trigger.
But a split second later, Lansing blinked and focused on something past Alec. Alec twisted to look but Lansing knocked him to the deck and fired over his head. Someone fired back.
Lansing fell and his rifle clattered to the deck. Alec saw the attacker out of the corner of his eye. One of the terrorist cell members. Shit.
Alec grabbed Lansing’s rifle, and rolling to his side, he fired back. The attacker jerked sideways and hit the railing. He hung there, balancing perfectly between rail and ship for a moment, and then fell overboard.
Could have been me, Alec thought. So damn close.
Daz rushed into view. “Firefly!”
About time. “Not hit.” Alec stumbled to his feet.
Daz knelt over Lansing. “Shit, he’s bad. This went into the neck.” Daz slapped his hand over the neck wound. It was instantly covered in blood. “Medic’s in the wrecked container up front with the rest of the team. Let’s go.”
Daz grabbed Lansing under the shoulders and dragged him. Alec followed along, rifle at the ready. They turned the corner and F-Team swarmed around them, providing cover. Shots were fired, they pinged off the deck in front of them. Alec fired back with the rest of F-Team.
Alec stumbled into the container and helped Daz pull Lansing inside. Daz’s pants were soaked in blood. The medic swore and slapped bulky bandages over Lansing’s neck. The patient groaned.
Alec swallowed. Lansing had been shot protecting him, only a second after Lansing had been about to kill him.
“Alec?”
“Beth?” He turned his head. She sat with her back to the wall. Safe. Drake loomed over her, weapon in hand.
“Lansing saved me.”
“After he dragged you away from safety,” Drake said.
“Beth, what does the medic think?” Alec said.
“The medic’s worried,” she said, face pale. “He thinks an artery is severed.”
Daz lined up F-Team at the opening of their small sanctuary. “No one goes out again. We’re secure for now, at least in here. Gabe got radio confirmation that reinforcements are coming. We won’t be outnumbered for long.”
“Good.” Alec knelt next to Lansing. Why would this man take a slug for him?
Lansing moaned and opened his eyes.
Drake knelt on Lansing’s other side. “Artery wound?”
The medic nodded. The white bulky bandage had turned blood red.
Lansing had saved his life, he deserved help. Alec summoned the TK. Pain sliced through his mind. He dropped his head between his knees, to stave off fainting. Why fucking now did his TK find its limits?
“I can’t help him.” He looked over at Beth. “I can’t.”
“If you hadn’t used your power to stop the nuke, he’d be dead already. And he was the one who exposed you both to attack.”
“He saved my life,” Alec said. “Of course, he threatened to kill me too.”
“I know. I heard. I tried to get him to stop but my telepathy was too weak.”
Lansing rolled his head to the right and stared at Drake. He lifted a hand and curled his fingers on the strap of Drake’s Kevlar vest. “This is it?”
Drake shook his head. “You’ve been a damn lucky bastard for two hundred years, Richard. Heal it.”
“Too much blood loss,” Lansing whispered, his voice a wheeze.
“Two hundred years?” Alec asked.
“I forgive you, Drake,” Lansing sputtered.
“Fuck you.” Drake scowled.
Blood spilled from Lansing’s mouth. He tried to spit it out, couldn’t, and crooked a finger at Alec.
Alec leaned over him.
“Alec.” Lansing’s breath was a painful whisper.
Beth grabbed Alec’s hand and he felt that familiar disorienting snap before their connection settled.
“Alec, what he’s thinking, you need to hear it, feel it, before he dies.”
Alec blinked and he was inside Lansing’s head. An image appeared of a beautiful woman, long legs, gorgeous black curls “…beautiful woman, dark eyes, dark hair, perfect body but unfortunately tainted by mongrel blood. I didn’t know her boy would turn out to be competent and gifted or I would have taken him with me…but then I found you, Alec…and you have no equal…”
Lansing smiled. “Always paid attention. Always wanted to please me. A good boy. The best. My true son.”
Alec felt love coloring Lansing’s thoughts about him. “We’ll put things in order, me and you and the others, stop all this mess. Just as soon as you listen to me. We’re so much better than they are. We deserve to be in charge.”
Alec met Lansing’s gaze. The old bastard’s eyes were already glazing over. “Don’t let them make you normal, boy, don’t let them do that. You’ll take the Resource and have control. Do what you have to do. It’s worth the cost.”
“Don’t die,” Alec whispered.
“Smart boy, don’t be a damned follower and die for nothing.”
Alec’s mind filled with anger, sadness and then pain. Lansing’s voice in his head fluttered and abruptly disappeared. Alec slumped back against the wall and dropped his head between his legs.
“He loved me.”
“I know.” Beth wrapped her arms around him.
Through the blur of tears, Alec saw Drake slump back and rest his hands on his knees, hands that were still covered with Lansing’s blood. Beth reached out a hand to her father. He shook his head and refused the comfort.
“Beth, Richard Lansing actually cared. He could have killed me. He kept saying he would kill me but he couldn’t.”
“He loved you, Alec, as much as he was able.”
“He was also fucking insane.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Alec,” Daz tapped him on the back. “Reinforcements are on the bow, unloading from the Blackhawks overhead. That CIA fuck Kowalski’s with them. They’re looking for the person in charge.”
“I’ll talk to Kowalski.” Drake stood.
“No.” Alec struggled to his feet. “I’m in charge now. I’l
l do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Beth rested her head on her father’s shoulder as activity swarmed around them. They sat with their backs to the wall in the container that Alec had peeled open like a tin can.
The bodies of four terrorists who’d died in the gunfight had been dragged out to the bow. Lansing’s body had been carefully picked up and placed in a body bag. Alec had watched. Philip had not.
The blood remained, splattered on the opposite wall of the container and in a small pool where Lansing had taken his last breath.
Her father looked up at the light streaming in from the hole ripped through the containers by the explosion.
He whistled and shook his head. “How?”
“Alec took control of the explosion and sent it up to the sky.”
“And the two of you rode with it?”
“We did.” We did? Yes, we did.
“That must have been…” Philip shook his head again.
“Yes, exactly.” How to describe it? Impossible.
She closed her eyes, trying to recapture the amazement, the ecstasy, the instant where she and Alec and the fire had become all mixed together. His power had made the fire controllable. Her power had linked them together. And then…
She dropped her head to hide the flush from her father. Now she knew why Alec loved his gift.
“And then you came back down to death,” Philip said. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
She almost wished that she and Alec had never come down. They could have landed safely somewhere else if she hadn’t been so insistent. And then she wouldn’t have felt Lansing’s pain at dying and heard Alec’s grief in her thoughts.
And that was why she didn’t love her gift.
It was almost a relief that her telepathy was so weak now, though it prevented her from knowing what Alec and Philip were going through. Alec had the benefit of knowing that Lansing’s actions toward him were from love, twisted as it was. Mixed blessing, considering he didn’t know if Lansing would have eventually pulled the trigger on that rifle.
Philip, though…Philip’s blood father had tossed him aside as unworthy. The father who should have cared for Philip hadn’t cared at all save to demand obedience. No wonder Philip had tried so hard to be a good father to her.
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